Efforts have been made in the past to introduce liquid smoke and other liquid materials onto the surface of meat emulsion to enhance its taste, assist in the surface conditioning of the extruded meat emulsion, or to lubricate the emulsion as it moves through a stuffing horn towards the interior of an elongated closed casing. See U.S. Pat. No. 3,922,364.
The shortcomings of these prior devices and methods are that the liquid cannot be uniformly applied to the entire surface of the extruded meat product, and that the liquid material penetrates the meat emulsion and becomes partially intermixed therewith without staying on the exterior surface thereof.
It is therefore a principal object of this invention to provide a method and means for placing a liquid film on the exterior surface of an extruded meat emulsion product.
A further object of this invention is to provide a method and means for placing a liquid film on the exterior surface of an extruded meat emulsion product and which will take place through placing a liquid film on the interior of the casing before the meat emulsion is placed in the casing.
A still further object of this invention is to provide a method and means for placing a liquid film on the exterior surface of an extruded meat emulsion product after a casing has been formed on a stuffing horn through which the meat emulsion product is extruded.
These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.